Summary:
Maharashtra government after 16 years has formulated a comprehensive water policy for the state which focuses on increasing water and agricultural productivity, reducing disparity in water supply criteria applied for urban and rural areas, providing water through pipelines from reservoirs and bringing water guzzling crops like sugarcane and banana under micro-irrigation. The policy lays emphasis on making rainwater harvesting mandatory in urban areas and for new colonies, groundwater planning will be devised. The policy envisages participation of people at large in the water supply, planning of cleanliness amenities and its management in urban and rural areas. It will be binding on industrial units using one million cubic meter of water annually to prepare water report. For flood forecast, the government proposes to develop decision support system and also SMS based warning system in flood zones..